


The Guilt of a Curse

by Okami_no_fude



Series: Linked Universe oneshots [5]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Mention of Demise, Skyward Sword Ending Spoilers, some swearing from Legend, what do you expect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 17:30:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20067838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okami_no_fude/pseuds/Okami_no_fude
Summary: “Alright Sky, what has been bothering you recently?”Sky looked really caught off guard with the question. However, the Chosen Hero tried to give him reassurance that “nothing was bothering him,” plastering a fake smile.“Cut the crap, Sky,” Legend crossed his arms as he cut off Sky in his excuses. He was not having any fake reassurance. “I know a look of guilt when I see one. What is making you feel that way?”*Spoilers for ending of Skyward Sword*





	The Guilt of a Curse

**Author's Note:**

> A conversation in the LU discord about how little interaction we see between Legend and Sky came up, and I wrote this as a way to combat my writer's block. Special thanks to SpaceMalarkey for the idea, and Pan (Lucky_Cassandra) for helping me out with the dialogue!
> 
> [Linked Universe](https://linkeduniverse.tumblr.com/) belongs to @jojo56830  
Nintendo owns Legend of Zelda series.

He knew he had messed up on his journey at that point.

He already had a nagging thought at the back of his mind when he first met 8 other people who looked extremely similar to himself and called themselves Link. While subtle with some of them, they all had an air of someone who went through hardships that no ordinary person would have gone through; the way they held themselves in an unfamiliar situation, how they scanned the area for potential danger, the jumpiness, and paranoia that underlies beneath their persona…  
  


He noticed all of this because those quirks were something he saw in himself after he had defeated Demise. 

Another clue that had given fuel to that thought was how he understood that he was the first hero to have ever existed. While it did take some time to figure out who belonged where in the rather confusing and convoluted timeline, everyone figured out pretty quickly that he was the first hero, as the kingdom of Hyrule did not exist during his time, the fact he had forged the Master Sword, and he himself have never heard any stories or legends of multiple heroes.

The fact that he was the first incarnation of the hero had given him a sense of unease.

———

The One Question that he had asked the group gave him the final clue that led him to the horrifying truth.  
  
_“Who’s Ganon?”_

He remembers the looks of pure disbelief that was etched onto the whole group’s faces. That already triggered warning bells inside his head.

He was given the whole story about how each of the heroes had suffered from Ganon’s malicious hand one way or another.  
  
_“He took over Hyrule after seizing the Triforce of Power and caused all races to suffer for seven years; the Zoras were trapped in frozen ice, the Gorons being imprisoned and put on a death row for a dragon to eat them, the castle town citizens to abandon their homes in order to survive…”_

_  
“He and his army of monsters had decimated Hyrule to the point where everyone was afraid to step outside to the wilderness. I scarcely saw anyone during my first journey.”_

_“I fought him as Ganondorf, but he was the main reason why the Great Sea was infested with monsters. He destroyed islands, killed the sages praying to the goddess. He kidnapped young girls including my sister.”_

_  
“He used Vaati, another villain that had plunged Hyrule into darkness, and the one I had to fight, as a mere decoy to hide his revival.”_

_  
“He gave a villain powers to overthrow the ruler of one realm, and invaded our Hyrule, using the usurper as a mere puppet.”_

_  
“Because of Ganondorf, or Ganon, corrupting a sorceress to free himself from his seal, it plunged Hyrule into all-out war. Many good soldiers fell.”_

_“Ganon managed to corrupt the Sacred realm, and changed a bunch of greedy bastards who wanted the Triforce into monsters for his army, causing Hyrule to decline. I had to keep fighting him and seal him back multiple times, which frankly sucked.”_

_“You guys saw the state of my Hyrule. Yeah, that’s all because of that entity. Zelda did say that he was ‘the embodiment of the ancient evil that is reborn time and time again’. It was Hatred and Malice incarnate, that beast.”_

While with every statement that his fellow heroes have given increased his feeling of dread, that last statement from Wild turned his blood into ice.

Hatred incarnate.

Demise had cursed him before he was sealed into the master sword; that an incarnation of his hatred would ever follow the ones that shared the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero.

At first, he did not really think much of it, or rather, he did not want to think of it, but he could not deny it anymore, seeing 8 other heroes.

The curse had taken effect, and 8 other people had suffered from it.

Fi, his companion who resides in the Master Sword, was very quiet on this matter when he asked whether if the curse had affected anyone else besides the ones who had been gathered by the shadow.

The silence was more telling than anything.

He should have stopped Demise from uttering that curse before being sealed away. He should have chopped his head off or something to prevent him from talking.

But he didn’t. He just stood there, letting Demise curse him and essentially dooming Hyrule, it’s royal family, and the person who carried the spirit of the hero to forever be locked into a bloody history of battles against an ancient evil.

Was he even suited to be called a hero, when he had inadvertently made everyone meet a terrible fate, pulled into an endless cycle of hatred caused by Demise?

———

Legend knew that something was off with Sky.  
After the startling question that Sky had made and the subsequent explanation of each incarnation of Ganon had affected each of their Hyrule and their lives, he had seen how surprised and shaken Sky was. 

Especially with Wild’s description of his version of Ganon.

Since then, he had been gazing off into the distance more often, in deep thought whenever the sky was overcast with clouds, the Master Sword tucked underneath his arm. 

Legend had also spied Sky communicating with the sword spirit residing in the Master Sword, the one named Fi when he thought no one was around, bearing a haunted look.  
  


In normal circumstances, Legend would not really try to poke around other people’s business and try to comfort them as he was always hesitant in getting close to others, but something in Sky’s expression had him think differently. 

  
The look he had was one of extreme guilt, something he rarely saw on the first hero’s face.

Sky was feeling guilty about something, and it was relating something to Ganon.

That did not make sense at all.

From his question, it was clear to Sky that he had not fought against Ganon, so why would he feel guilty about Ganon? Was it _because_ Sky hadn’t experienced the horrors of Ganon’s nefarious schemes he was feeling that way?

Whatever it was, it was affecting Sky’s combat performance, becoming far more aggressive than the others would have liked.

Legend was painfully aware of what guilt could do to one’s psyche if festered for too long. Hell, he still had problems with it, but he had somewhat made some peace with what he did on one of his “adventures”. Sky did not need to go through that rabbit hole. 

It was time to nip the situation in the bud.

During one of his turns of getting firewood, he forcefully dragged Sky with him as his partner to get a sense of privacy so he can address the situation in his own fashion: the blunt, to-the-point way.

“Alright Sky, what has been bothering you recently?”

Sky looked really caught off guard with the question. However, the Chosen Hero tried to give him reassurance that “nothing was bothering him,” plastering a fake smile.  
“Cut the crap, Sky,” Legend crossed his arms as he cut off Sky in his excuses. He was not having any fake reassurance. “I know a look of guilt when I see one. What is making you feel that way?”

Sky gave a bewildered look to Legend, who was standing there, impassive. Eventually, after a few tense moments, Sky let out a soft sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck, looking to the side. “You can tell huh?”

Legend scoffed. “I think we could all tell, no matter how hard you were trying to hide it. I’m just the one who took the initiative to find out and shake you out of your funk.”

“Heh, I guess that is just like you Legend, one not to beat around the bushes.”

While Legend would not really call himself a patient person, he could see that Sky was willing to tell him something, just struggling to find words for it. 

He could wait for once. They had time. He knows the others in the group of heroes would understand the delay- he knew that Time understood what he was doing when he had pulled Sky with him.

“...so this is something about the entity you guys fought...Ganon, right? I...I think I have played a part in the birth of Ganon…”

Legend raised an eyebrow at Sky’s statement. How could Sky, a hero, who was from a time way before Ganon had existed, have played a part of the evil being’s existence? He wanted to voice that thought in his own snarky way, but he bit his tongue in order to hold himself back. Sky needed to let all of this out.

Sky took the silence as a sign for him wanting more information and began pouring words out, the tone gradually becoming more anguished. 

“While I hadn’t fought Ganon as you guys did, I had to fight someone was ferocious and terrifying. His name… was Demise. He was a demon of hatred and had been sealed for Goddesses know how long until the day I had passed the exam to become a knight. He was the reason why my ancestors were sent up to the sky along with the Triforce by the goddess Hylia: to keep us safe from the demon army led by Demise.”

“He eventually broke through the seal with the help of his subordinate, and I had to fight him in order to save Zelda’s life and to protect everyone else in the world from his malicious power.

The last confrontation between him and I was extremely terrifying; he was something, unlike anything I had ever fought, even his subordinate, Ghirahim. His sheer intimidating figure, his sword skills, his power to control lightning...I sometimes still have a hard time believing that I managed to scrape a win after a long and arduous battle.”

Legend watched with bated breath as Sky shuddered before continuing.“However, I did not finish my job as I should have.”

“When...when Demise was fading after I delivered the final, he left these last words: ‘_My hate... never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end!_

_I will rise again!_

_Those like you... Those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero... They are eternally bound to this curse._

_An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time!_’” 

Sky began to curl up onto himself. “I should have stopped him from uttering those words. I should have finished him off earlier, but I didn’t, Legend. I...I had doomed you all with the curse Demise had placed. I am the reason why you all had to suffer Ganon’s plans. I’m the one who caused most of you to lose your childhood early on, to face horrors that no one could imagine, the reason for all of your painful scars…”

Sky let out a self-deprecating chuckle that was tinged with the anguish he was feeling. 

“When I asked Fi whether the curse had affected more people besides the 8 of you guys, she was silent on the matter. I caused so many to suffer… I guess I really don’t deserve the title of a hero if I doomed Hyrule and everyone living to be stuck in an endless cycle of hatred…”

Legend had enough.

Grabbing Sky’s shoulders, he gave him a few good shakes to get him out of the downward spiral of thoughts he was in.

“Damn it Sky, stop right there! All of this is **not your fault**. Are **you** the one had uttered those words? Are **you** the one whose hatred that is causing all the suffering? Did **you** want the people of Hyrule to suffer?” Legend asked Sky fiercely.

“N-no, but-“

“But nothing, Sky!” The Chosen Hero was cut off before he could continue his self-deprecation. “Listen to me! You did none of that shit right? That was all Demise guy for you, and Ganon for us. We don’t even know if Demise and Ganon are related at all! No do not interrupt,” Legend pushed on, stopping Sky from interjecting. “Even if they _were _related, the fact that you’re not the one who intently made any of us go through anything stays the same. That. Was. Not. You,” he emphasized each word with a shake of Sky’s shoulders as if to hammer it in. “Do not blame yourself on anything! I don’t blame you at all, and nor will the others! This was all Demise and Ganon’s fault got it?!”

Sky was quiet for a long time. Legend did not know whether he got through his thick skull, and began to prepare to share his experiences with guilt when Sky finally let out a long, shuddering sigh. “I guess I needed someone to tell me that…” The Hero that hailed from the sky muttered. “...Thanks Legend,” he said as he raised his head up, a small genuine smile on his face. Legend just shrugged his shoulders, inwardly sighing with relief that he was successful in getting Sky to abolish his misplaced guilt. “Well, we can’t have our resident bubbly boy be down in the dumps, now can we?” 

Realizing this was beginning to feel sappy, Legend cleared his throat. “Come on Sky, I think we need to get the firewood soon or some of the others are gonna get upset on not eating Wild’s meals,” he said as he gestured to his fellow hero to help him with the task. 

Sky chuckled as he followed behind Legend. He knew that he was just hiding his embarrassment with that statement. While Legend may seem to be snarky, he was a softie inside, and Sky was glad he had a good friend like him.

“Aren’t you the one who is gonna be upset if you couldn’t eat a hot meal made by Wild?”

“Sh-shut it!”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, Demise in the Japanese version is called 終焉の者 (Shuuen no mono: Person of Demise), so Demise may more be a title rather than his actual name; he is the embodiment of demise.


End file.
